It seems LibLabCon's cunning plan to address the UKIP problem that they all clearly face is to say 'we get it' - and then do nothing.
By now they must be starting to 'get' the fact that growing numbers of the population, who have voted for all three 'mainstream' parties in the past (I think 'mainstream might be a bit strong a term to use to describe the LIb Dems but hey ho), are turning away from the smug, cozy, self-serving status quo.
That they (we) have had enough of being patronised, having laws passed and policies enacted that we never signed up for and that this massive disconnect between those who supposedly work for us (but only really bother to connect with us every five years), has become intolerable.
And unlike the past 40 years or so, there is now an alternative; a potential home for our votes when at issue is not a protest vote on a single issue, but a real vote for a comprehensive change. Not so much 'we disagree with your stance on (insert pet issue here - immigration, the welfare state, the NHS, defence, deomocracy, the EU), but the whole way in which we're being governed by career politicians who have not got a single clue about how the real world works, who have never had a proper job or faced any kind of financial struggle.
Time after time we hear: 'we get it', 'we're listening and will learn the lessons' and time after time nothing changes. I don't believe that the rumbling machinery of the establishment - the commons, Lords, civil service etc. - is capable of making the changes and delivering the reconnect between ordinary people and our governance that we now need. I talked about this disconnect in a blog some time ago - here. At the time I felt that the solution could even be a violent one such was the growing feeling I percieved amongst the ignored electorate, but I think UKIP is, thankfully, now offering a non-violent solution. Whether it (UKIP) is ultimately the beneficiary or not is really down to what the other mainstream parties now do in response to a clear message from the voter.
And in Nigel Farage we now have a serious politician who doesn't talk down to us, who doesn't patronise us, who hasn't yet had the opportunity to be caught out lying to us. For many people this 'let's give him a chance, he seems like a normal, straightforward bloke, particularly in comparison with the toffs and expenses fiddlers in all the other parties,' is gaining ground.
Left-leaning voters seem at last to be waking up to the fact that Labour doesn't really give a toss about them and has delivered almost no uplift to their lives (in Labour heartlands) for decades (if ever). Lib Dem voters who had the luxury of espousing lofty principles when there was zero chance of them having to be tested in power, have seen their party found utterly wanting when they had to step up to the plate.
Tories have realised that call-me-Dave is not a traditional Tory but an 'heir to Blair' who sadly doesn't have the balls or the negotiating skills to fight for the interests of this once great country. Of the three he is in a different league to the other mainstream leaders, but he's not strong enough in fighting our corner, particularly on what I believe to be the biggest issue we face - the EU.
And why is it the biggest issue? Because if we carry on the way we are (and the publicly-stated direction of travel that the EU is taking), it will be largely irrelevent which party we vote for in the UK in ten years' time, because the vast majority of our laws and policies will be decided in Brussels with almost no imput from us voters in the UK and without taking account of our interests, values and views.
Yes Dave wants a referendum but he'll be voting for us to stay in whatever the results of his renegotiations (which have a vanishingly small chance of being successful in any meaningful way). And if that is the case when (if) the time comes when we do get to vote, the machinery of the establishment and the European Union will almost certainly win the referendum. So making political capital out of offering a referendum, but having the policy of voting to stay in, is a hollow promise that is highly cynical at best.
'We get it'.
No you don't.
The only thing you are 'getting' at the moment is a sound kicking yes from UKIP, but more importantly, from the good people of the UK.
If UKIP wins the by-election in Rochester I think Mr Farage will be well on the way to achieving his 'earthquake' and I think that will be a good, possibly great, thing for the UK. And six months out from a General Election, couldn't be better timing.
Thanks for reading.
Good comments. Ms Merkel seemed a bit huffed that UK was being a bit difficult with the EC, (amazed, UK managed that much) but in reality she is just being a school teacher disciplining a naughty child. Dave had the bargaining chip of being able to say:- "Do this and that, otherwise UKIP will get power to do much worse" and he either blew it, or (more likely) got completely ignored. GO UKIP! Show them some "difficult"
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